there is some time over the next couple of weeks. it may be the white house calculation but they want an experienced person such as leon panetta continuing role for a little bit longer. >> you both seem very interested in the syrian question and arms going to the syrian rebels. what is behind your interest on their? >> the administrations's policy, which is a legitimate and fair balancing of american values and interests, is ultimately untenable. and there are actors in the region t regional leaders are calling for more u.s. involvement and more u.s.

activity. we are meant to believe that approach is being considered now and that has implications turkey and i ran. -- iran. that's all. >> this week prime minister david cameron announced that 3800 troops will be withdrawn from afghanistan by 2013. they doesed concerns over proposed spending cuts. prime minister's questions tonight at 9:30 p.m. on c-span. >> now a discussion about the 2012 presidential campaign. this is from today's washington

journal. a look back at campaign 2012. joining us at the table is glenn thrush and jonathan martin of politico. guest: we had known that there >> we have known for some time there was always tension between the campaign staff and the candidate's family in terms of how to fill mitt romney's -- how to tell the romney story. so many americans saw this rich business man and they never got a sense for who he was as a person. one of the most fascinating is that we came across was, romney had a mormon documentarian follow him around in the campaign. he was a friend of one of the romney sons.

he had great access. he made a documentary about romney. in 2010, he showed it to the family, they loved it. the staff said, we are not going to show this to the public. they thought it showed too much of him talking about his mormon faith in a way that they feared could turn off the public, which has some misconceptions about that faith. to me, that captured the attention in the romney campaign. the staff never wanted to talk about the candidate. they wanted to make it about obama and his handling of the economy. ultimately, that a lot obama and his campaign to define mitt romney and his campaign. host: and yet, he did talk about his mormon faith at the convention. other members that spoke about

mitt romney, but that only happened at the convention. it did not happen in 30-second spots. did not move much beyond that. guest: the obama campaign did not understand what they were up to. they did not anticipate the extent to which mitt romney would not address his own personality or record. one of the interesting elements of this book is, on may 26, right at the beginning of the campaign, when the obama folks were stumbling, they had this meeting in the roosevelt room, other advisers and the president, and they said, we are going to get creamed at the end of the race anyway. let's take $100 million we have for advertising and push it forward into june and july to define him in the battleground states. other candidates, bill clinton in 1996, did the same thing.

this was a real gamble. but it really paid off. the romney folks are never able to recover. the definition that the obama people had established with the dominant one in the campaign. host: this is from "the boston sunday globe." and then the piece goes on to say, looking back, to your point, the candidate never defining himself. and then overestimating his ground game. guest: on the ground game side, they were worth about their own bravado about their own organization. part of it was, i think, a genuine ignorance about what president obama had going

on. the romney campaign had a triple a round game. obama campaigned out a ground game that was led the 1927 yankees. it was up against a perhaps all-time great ground game. i do not think the romney folks appreciated that. a lot of the post-mortem pieces that we have done, talking about the obama ground game -- part of it is self-serving, as it masks some of their own problems -- but still, you have to tip your hat to the obama folks. guest: mitt romney and his campaign spent $100 million in the state of ohio.

obama spent $15 million less from our calculations. they paid for the state of ohio, they just did not get the return. host: the book is "the end of the line." jonathan martin, you write that president obama had never been on a comfortable up being coached before becoming the most powerful leader in the world. guest: this is not unique to president obama. if you look at performances by incumbent presidents, it is tough. they are not used to being challenged in the way that they invariably are. i think it was especially acute in obama's case because he did not take romney that seriously. glenn says in the e-book, to the effect that mitt romney is barely human.

president obama did not think that romney was a good candidate. he is getting ready for this debate in the wake of the 47% gaff that romney made. it is our conclusion that he did not get on his a-game because he did not think he was playing against an a-league opponent. host: mitt romney succeeded in the first debate. let's watch. >> governor romney says he wants to repeal dodd-frank. it appears we have some agreement that a market place to work has to have some regulation. in the past, governor romney has just said, roll it back. so the question is, does anyone

out there think that the big problem we had is that there was too much oversight and regulation of wall street? because if you do, then governor romney is your candidate. but that is not what i believe. >> that is not the facts. we have to have regulation in wall street. that is why i would have regulation but i would not designate five banks as too big to fail and give them a blank check. that is one of the unintended consequences of dodd-frank. we need to get rid of that provision because it is killing regional and small banks. you say we were giving mortgages to people who were not qualified. exactly right.

it is one of the reasons for the financial calamity we had. so dodd-frank correctly says we need to have qualified mortgages. if you give a mortgage not qualified, there are big penalties, but they did not go on to define what a qualified mortgage was. it has been two years. we do not know what a qualified mortgage is. try to get a mortgage these days. dodd-frank did not anticipate putting in place the kinds of regulations you have to have. it is not that dodd-frank was always wrong with too much regulation. sometimes they did not come up with clear regulation. i will make sure we do not hurt the functioning of our marketplace in businesses because i want to bring back housing and get good jobs. host: as you watch the body language and substance of the debate, in the after words, as governor romney and the president were backstage, what was the reaction? guest: what was fascinating about this, obama walked offstage with michelle obama, saw his wife and said, that was not that bad guest: he said, that wasn't that bad. and then his wife said, yes. yes it is. the did not get a sense of the magnitude of this disaster.

this saw the top of his head of what staring down at the podium and there was an immediate the acknowledgement that this was a potentially game changing disaster. what was funny -- well, not funny to them, but they had completely anticipated it. we just thought in terms of his answer is what they refer to as going down the rabbit hole. he was so worried that obama was going to go on these long answers that he sent him an image about it. host: that me ask you about the 47% video. how damaging was that? guest: the romney campaign knew immediately that it was devastating. host: what was mitt romney's immediate reaction?

guest: he was in california. he knew it was problematic. there was a staff conference call in the hours afterwards were they acknowledged that it was bad. romney came on the line and knew he had to address it. because of the time difference, it was not until about 11:00 eastern but he did not do a full walked back in their press conference. he said his remarks were not elegantly stated. what we are told is that he was uneasy about pollock -- apologizing because he did not want to be accused of being a flip-flop for. in the first hours after it came out -- a flip-flopper. it was not until he was at univision when he said he wanted the votes of the 100%.

is still was not an apology and that never came until the debate in denver. it was an obvious gaffe, but he did not want to take it back because he was dogged by this image of someone who didn't stand. host: do we know how mother jones was able to get that video? guest: the reveals for the first time that the campaign did some in-house investigation. the close as they came was the wait staff in the hotel. there was an internal affairs deal. the romney campaign actually had a probe and they talked to those who were there. host: slows in boca raton?

-- thi was in boca? guest: the wait staff had been dodgy and they were a bit demanding, asking for quotas, and it was determined that it was in fact the wait staff. host: the book is titled "the end of the line." glenn thrush and jonathan martin here for the whole hour. on the line from new york city. caller: obama was quite intelligent on that first debate because he let romney state his entire case. most people cannot remember that many facts and it must have given obama a chance to check off the facts. he josh credibility just by appearing on the stage, so for going word for word it just up to the answer -- upped the ante.

he let the press do his talking about a 47% for the rest of the week. he let the press carry aloft for him. host: glenn thrush. guest: they should have hired you to do these been. i'm from new york and i used to play in the schoolyard. there was no intention for it to go down that way. the stock out the words was just -- the staff was ashen faced. they did not know it at the time. host: stuart stevens loved the idea of having an american icon as a warm-up act. they had been assured that clint eastwood would more or

less played by their rules but they had not enforced any discipline. he delivered a bizarre rambling lecture to an empty chair that became an instant you to classic and not in a good way. guest: he and the campaign manager for ronny will sitting in the arena and they were just slack jawed as he did his routine. they thought he was going to stick to some kind of talking point about obama as stewardship of the country, making the case for romney, and we got this odd, rambling performance. they looked at each other as to say, what the heck is going on here? they have the same reaction as all of us. host: charlie from georgia on

airline for democrats with glenn thrush and jonathan martin. caller: thank you for taking my call. i was always fascinated during the primary season for the republicans that i thought they were putting enough pressure on candidate romney than to reveal his taxes. how much pressure was put on and what was the end the decision on him not revealing his taxes over the years like his father had? thank you. host: it was a self-enforced error by the romney campaign. guest: perversely the 47% video began to overshadow that. guest: it was a huge matter of debate during the primary season, but they realized it had to be put out because it was becoming a distraction so

he decided to put out one year of taxes. this gets to the issue of him being an intensely private man who was never comfortable with his wealth and he never wanted to reveal the top wealthy he was. that was always his posture. a lot of the campaign staff wanted him to do it. he just did not want to talk about these matters. in his mind, he was thinking like an operative. the more fodder i give in terms of my tax returns, the opposition is only going to use it to throw it away. guest: have we ever had a candidate that had so many "no fly zones" in his life that he did not want to talk about? guest: he eventually came around and this is the theme of our book. it was ultimately too late

because the die was cast. this campaign was effectively the made in the spring and to find him, in the words of hailey barbour, as "an out of touch politician married to a known equestrian." that was in may, june, july. host: and even before that, the republican primary did a good job defining him and the obama camp only had to do the reminders. guest: absolutely and talking and about his time at bain capital started that. one of the laments of republicans is that the primary went too long and romney did

not start the general until mid or late april. and then there were just too many debates, too many marginal issues, marginal characters and it hurt the party. i don't know how you fix that in the future. you can take the winner-take-all vs proportional type of the primary. of long as you have an ambitious candidate that can get attention, you're going to have a primary process. i'm not sure how much can be done about that. host: here is the sideline again from "the boston globe." the bravest error of the campaign, not letting the voters in on the real paul, mitt romney. guest: sometimes it did not quite liked what they saw item that was the duality. he had a very narrow path to trod in terms of his own personal narrative.

i remember being on one campaign swing out west and talking with one of the senior advisor to said, we cannot do these off the record business, coffee shops and diners that he can do because we just don't know what's going to come out of his mouth. guest: that the unspoken issue in terms of why the campaign was hard. yes, there was an assumption overate%. the implicit was also this. they were worried about their own candidate. there was a saying inside campaign headquarters, "mitt happens." it would be hard to get them to admit this in the record but he was a political health risk to himself. he said things that left them

surprised or puzzled as to what he said torments and that, i think, rose as some of the staff in terms of how much romney they wanted to show. host: why did he choose congressman paul ryan? guest: to a certain extent he was pressured into doing it by the mainstream republican establishment. i can tell you from the perspective of chicago, i was ridiculed a lot when i reported this, but they were really worried about tim pawlenty and they felt they could deliver some of those midwestern states in a way to ryan did not. ryan did not deliver his home state or even come close. towards the tail end of the campaign, he was not much of a presence. host: the announcement came at

9:00 in the morning, the last day of the olympics. why the timing? why not wait until the following week? if you're going to select congressman ryan, run on the rhine and budget. guest: they wanted to get it in before then but there was the massacre at the sikh temple. i don't know exactly what the study on why they did not wait, but i think romney saw a lot of himself in ryan. serious, cares about policy and ideas. i think he saw him as someone who could be a respectable running mate to help him politically what you could really help him. romney thought he was going to be president. in his mind, ryan was someone

to keep those guys in the building behind you in line especially in the house. i think romney saw a lot of promise in him from the governing standpoint. he is known in the political world for his budget, yet when he picked him, he never fully embraced the ryan budget and had his own ideas. instantly, you are having an odd bit of tension there. why would pick someone from wisconsin, who came from a swing district in wisconsin and then never really try to campaign in wisconsin? i believe was the same weekend he picked ryan and he never went back until the last week of the election. it's really puzzling. romney had a shot there.

go there after you pick someone from that state and you never go back? host: why was john kerry's enormous wealth and not an issue in 2004? guest: it was, but that campaign was so much defined by 9/11, john kerry, and the swift voting issue. the problem is not enormously wealthy candidates, but can they make a pitch to the working-class voters. it does not matter what is in your bank account of what is out there in public. guest: part of the reason john kerry of losses because he and his wife were characterized the same way they did to rodney as the out of touch, french looking couple who cannot relate the middle class americans.

guest: in the even does become a little bit of french. guest: it was an issue in 2004 and it was very harmful in terms of his character. host: you write about this in the book, this ad that came out just before the election and it played heavily in ohio. let's watch. "washington journal--- >> fact checkers say his attack on romney is false. he is a plan to help the auto industry. you supported by "the detroit news." he's told chrysler to italians were going to make jeeps in china. romney will fight for every american jobs.

>> ibm @ rahm and i approve this message. host: that ad was quickly refuted by the obama campaign. this ad became a real distraction to the campaign in the following weeks. they will say if you looked at where the results were in ohio, where they lost was not in the automobile district but elsewhere. it created a stink over the romney campaign in the final days that hurt him everywhere. to us, this ad captures something important. it is their uneasiness about

talking about issues that are not helpful for them earlier on but they had to be talked about. this saw the automobile issue was playing on obama's turf. they were talking about it so it was an issue out there. when you don't talk about it and don't explain it, that's a problem. there was a notion run the campaign, if you are explaining, you are a loser. the problem was by not explaining or even addressing, they let themselves be defined. they realize this late in the game. there was huge pressure from elements of his ohio campaign team to put something up, an ad on the autumn issue. they finally did and it was controversial because of that piece on china that was in there. senator portland told us after the campaign that he did not

like the china element and thought it was a distraction. that ad, in our minds, was symbolic. guest: obama's chicago-based campaign team could not believe their luck. the automobile issue had died down a little bit. they did not have quite as much money so they could not run as much, but they could not believe their luck. the thing they kept sending us with the front pages from the ohio pavers talking about this ad that it was a gift for obama. host: republican line from cincinnati. thank you for waiting. caller: i hosted a radio show in ohio. i told them they needed to run advertising for all radio including radio one. they chose not to.

the obama camp did the exact opposite. they had people calling in to our radio talk shows and injured during other people and at the end of the day, the romney camp left me and others and at the end of the day, the romney camp left me and others with nothing to hang our hat on. guest: we should have called you. we also saw some reporting around that time around the number of campaign offices. there were twice as many the obama campaign offices as romney had, roughly speaking, and i remember before the campaign, people in hamilton county, in the columbus area -- and also cincinnati, them claiming there was not the infrastructure. guest: the romney campaign, in

fairness to them, were not able to get their organization up and running until the spring. that was one of the advantages that president obama had. he was preparing for this campaign for four years, and mitt romney only had months. host: our caller. good morning. caller: good morning. host: you are up early. guest: i like to watch. i want to know what happened to in romney -- ann romney. it seems that after the convention, she pretty much vanished, so i would like to hear your take on that. guest: i actually talked to a lot of staffers about her and her role in the campaign, and what i was told is that there were some advertisements cut of

annm -- ann romney. she did not do well with voters. what the romney folks told me is that it was not believable that this belt up -- that the spouse of a canada would be a good test of fire to that canada because it is not believable. of course, his bows would say these nice things about him, because she is his spouse, but it was striking to me that his wife never appeared in television advertisements during the course of the general election campaign. we were always curious about that, and a lot of republicans were wondering where she was. we found out that they cut them because she did not test well. guest: and the conversation of her illness is when folks got to

see the discussion around the real mitt romney. nobody really talked about that stuff. host: glenn thrush what about their relationships with their staff? >> -- guest: that is a good question. the candidates themselves, mitt romney and paul ryan, were very close. a lot of them were imported from the staff of john boehner. guest: we are so used to these losing presidential campaigns, the two running mates, in and it was not so vivid in this case. in fact, what i think was less though, but even compared to other campaigns, paul ryan wanted to be more of a jack kemp conservative, talking about

empowering lower-income voters. he was denied a way to do that in a full throttle way. there was what we were just talking about in a while. he advocated early on to do an automotive advertisements based on his home town in wisconsin, which had a big gm plant. guest: he supported the bailout. it is " yes. but i think they got along pretty well. there were some areas of tension, but for the most part, for all of the buzz about paul ryan when he was picked, he became a pretty conventional running mate in terms of his impact, which was not very significant. host: we go now to our caller. caller: thank you. the presidential level, 2016, in

particular, with hillary clinton it appearing to be already the nominee, and then the other question i have for you is after the bush debate, it did seem like mitt romney had a small chance, a window of opportunity, and it looked like they just dropped the ball. that was their chance, and they blew it, and then the last question i have for you guys is this. do you think this will work with the house of representatives prove they are not doing a good job? host: thank you very much. guest: he sounded like his congressman.

host: hillary clinton in 2016. guest: it will be harder for hillary clinton to get the nomination. if we have learned nothing from the last 10 years in american politics, it is that things change on a dime. even our oftentimes rendered silly four years later, so i am not going to play -- guest: from 2008, i can tell you there is a vast difference in expectations about what a candidate can accomplish and what they will accomplish on the trail. i would not assume that hillary clinton is the presumptive nominee. there is a lot of road to go. and this is a conversation i had with david, one of the obama senior advisers, about the durability of this democratic victory.

he said this was about barack obama. the infrastructure of the campaign was very important, but the republicans are one great national candidate away from getting back in the game. that is the way the politics plays out. host: and jim, the house of representatives. guest: i think the question that the ast, we now read a congress on both sides, because of gerrymandering, because of the primary threats right and left in the election, one of the most remarkable numbers i have seen, i think it was in "the new york times," where it was written that over half of the republicans were reelected with 60% of the vote. the bottom line is they are concerned about primaries, not general elections. host: here is one the senate, we

hear is one that said -- there was back and forth over the music. guest: there was. i think they had some fun with their different musical tastes. i do not think mitt romney became a big ac/dc fan. coastal we go back to our book, and our guests, glenn thrush and jonathan martin. the book is "the end of the line," which you can get on kindle. glenn thrush? guest: again, this is jonathan's

great reporting on this. that chris christie stabbed them in the back. this crossover move. they tend to alienate the base, and they also tend to lose what they cross over to. they feel that the chris christie support for the request for a sandy relief is hurting them with republicans, so things move on rather quickly in politics. host: there are some lingering feelings that chris christie did not do what mitt romney. and then it was said they did not change anything. is go there is a lot of rearview mirror grumbling when it comes to chris christie in this campaign. -- guest: there is a lot a rearview mirror bromelain --

bromelain. he was not a staff favre, to put it mildly, but what i found out is that when the grumbling took place, mitt romney's said, "i know this. i was a governor, too," cindy msoft chris christie. some were deeply angry about the chris christie embrace of president obama in the final days of the campaign. looking at the polling in ohio before the hurricane, president obama was up, so it was not like a hurricane affected alive. i think president obama was up in virginia before the hurricane, as well. the hurricane did not help the romney cause. it froze the campaign for a couple of days, but he had a problem before sandy. guest: one of my favorite tactical maneuvers that they did during the campaign was having bruce springsteen call chris christie. that delighted the president.

host: talking about what happened on election eve and election day. mitt romney will up on election day thinking he was the next president of the united states. what was happening internally in the campaign? what was he thinking? and how did that change once the states are calling for president obama? guest: the mitt romney folks at the highest levels thought they were going to win. does the which was different from john mccain, where they knew they were going to lose. it does go certainly. they believe their internal polling, which had a different type of elector them what showed up, -- different type of electorate them what showed up -- than what showed up. the romney campaign began a process. they had their tough-guy

literally make the calls out to stop the process of bringing mitt romney down to the podium to concede the presidency. they stopped the process because they thought that all i was too close to call, and for over an hour, we report in the book, history was on pause. they hit the pause button, and it was not until after midnight that mitt romney wanted to concede. they wanted to make sure the votes were counted and do what they thought was the right, a prudent thing. we have this remarkable scene, where the romney campaign is talking to rob portman on speaker phone, and they are talking about the possibility of having paul ryan going to the podium and sending anybody home until the next morning, saying, "we will let more to say in the morning." and he said do not do that. we will have results, and at that point, the romney campaign

decided it probably was in the best interests to wait on the results and not send paul ryan down there. host: winning only north carolina. guest: is absolutely amazing. the obama people woke up on election day realizing they would lose florida narrowly, and they were shocked by their own success in carolina. one thing i did not put in the book, as the campaigns to reach the home stretch, the numbers in florida for the obama folks looked better, and bill clinton of all people demanded from chicago, hey, get me into florida more, and bill clinton did a lot of appearances in florida, and a lot of people think that may have helped turn the tide. host: we have one more caller from illinois. good morning to you. caller: good morning, steve, gentlemen.

merry christmas. one thing i have not heard you touch on too much yet is that the right wing a chamber that was beating the drum for romney and said he had the game in the bag, do you think that maybe his campaign operatives listen to deal much to the conservative media? the rasmus and paul? up by six points? it was just crazy. it was like an alternative universe. what do you guys think about that? guest: i actually wrote about that twice. this notion of a parallel universe where mitt romney was always win the war was going to win. i do not think the campaign was influenced by that as much as their internal polling, which was usually a model of voter turnout that turned out not to

be who showed up. but a lot of republicans in the country and probably members in congress to vote that thought mitt romney would win because of the conservative echo chamber, but i think it was their own polling. host: i will begin with you, glenn thrush. the surprise story was approved >> -- guest: we have heard externally that the obama preparation team was really angry with him for not being focused on debate preparation. what i found out through my research is that he was just as angry with this debate team and thought they were giving him conflicting advice and even stormed out, so there was a lot more internal it sturm und drang.

guest: i was struck why mitt romney did not respond when he was being hammered on television. he never thought about putting his own money in the campaign, or at least there was never any serious conversation about putting money in. his campaign messin -- campaign manager never talked about putting his personal wealth and. a millionaire. he got hammered that summer, and he could have responded. why? he did not want to be seen as buying the white house. host: the book is "the end of the line." glenn thrush and jonathan martin. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> tomorrow, william bennett, and clarence page discusses the political environment as we go into 2013 and the tone of american politics today.

"washington journal" live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> the tapings system was top secret. seems the only people who knew for certain where my father, his secretary, and the secret service agent who installed it. that was until president nixon made white house taping famous and infamous, and other presidential recording systems were revealed. against the backdrop of watergate, the background of secret taping can seem problematic, but this is a unique and invaluable historic resources. on these tapes, history unfolds in real time in the most dramatic possible way. we hear the tense confrontations of the civil rights movements and the life or death decisions being made during the cuban missile crisis. >> caroline kennedy joined in on a discussion on the 1962 recordings of the late president in the oval office.

tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2. >> there were a number of attributes and memorial services last week for senator daniel inouye of hawaii. his remains have laid in state in d.c., and in the state capital of allied. next, from the rotunda, john boehner, vice-president biden, and others.

>> let us pray. gracious god, sovereign lord of history, thank you for the exemplary impact of senator daniel ken inouye on our national history. lord, we are grateful for the

excellence that distinguished his significant career, for the quiet grace and dignity with which he represented the aloha state, and for the gift of discernment that enabled him to serve you faithfully for the good of america. as we express gratitude for the laudable footprints he left in the sands of time, give us your power to persevere in promptly doing what is right.

made the memory of senator inouye's indefatigable faithfulness provide a benchmark for the lives of all labor for liberty. lord, intensify our dedication to make sacrifices for the good of our nation and world as we put our trust in you to do for us immeasurably, abundantly, above all that we can ask or imagine, according to your power, he working in and through

us. -- more power, working in and through us. we pray in your sovereign name. amen. >> senator dan inouye was a noble soul, one of the finest men i have ever met, and we are por for his loss. i want to join senator inouye's family, hawaii, and all americans in paying respect to an american hero. senator inouye was one of the

deluxe senators to ever walk the hallowed halls of this great building. he leaves behind a legacy of public leadership and private kindness that will not be forgotten as long as these walls stand and as long as histories are written. it is fitting you should lie in state in the dome of the capital and proper that he should rest upon the same platform upon which abraham lincoln, president john f. kennedy, rosa parks, and 26 more of this nation's luminaries have lain in state. dan inouye was an institution and deserves to spend at least another day in this beautiful building in which he dedicated his life. as the second longest-serving senator in our history, dan

inouye represented our 50th state from the first day it was entered into the union, but his traditional service began long before he came to the united states senate. he was just a boy when he heard the warplanes over oahu, saw the bombs dropped on pearl harbor, and ran to gave aid to the wounded. he was still a teenager when he volunteered to serve this nation overseas, even though his people had been declared enemy aliens. and i am reminded, looking at another secretary year, who served in one of those internment camps. senator inouye became a member of the most highly decorated unit in the history of the united states military. that says it all. after being gravely wounded in italy, his arm was amputated. he spent 21 months recuperating

from his wounds at an army hospital in michigan. future majority leader bob dole, another young gi, who had been also wounded in the european theater, and he told senator inouye he wanted to go to law school and go to congress. bob dole was elected to congress one year after senator inouye. senator inouye always joked, "i went with the dole plan, and i beat him. " he has been a soft and powerful voice. although he was an unabashed progressive democrat, he always put his country first and his party second. dan was a vital presence in the

senate, and in death, he will remain a legend. his last words on earth, "aloha," and it is with a heavy heart that we did him aloha, we love you, to a legend of the senate, daniel inouye. -- we bid him aloha. >> good morning. on behalf of the united states house of representatives, i extend condolences to his family, colleagues, and constituents. in late 1963, a young freshman senator stood under the splenda dome, as we do now, in vigil and

in prayer. years on, daniel inouye could still remember how quiet this ever boisterous rotunda became when president kennedy's casket arrived. all i heard him say he heard was the shuffling of feet. that day, absorbed in his thoughts, this son of hawaii and the veteran of the 442nd, he could not have imagined he would spend another five decades passing through this fall. he could not have failed to know all of a good bet he would do year, helping to build a new state, gaining rights and benefits for veterans, supporting agriculture, speaking out against injustice, and

becoming one of the most revered senators in our history. he could not have fab funded, and unassuming as he was -- he could not have fathomed it, and unassuming as he was, he could not have imagined it. the state that the serbs into the last breath -- while this may be a quiet ceremony for a quiet man, it will last long after the respects are paid. for when this rotunda comes back to life, and the tour guides give their speech, they will always speak of daniel inouye, the gentleman from hawaii and one of freedoms most valley of champions. most back -- most

delicate -- galleons -- gallient champions. >> jennifer, ken, i would say to him that if my father year, he would look at him and tell them he has got a good blood. jessica. thaddeus stevens, hubert humphrey, robert byrd, admiral dewey, general pershing, general macarthur, 10 presidents, 31 in all lay in state, only 31 in the history of the united states of america under the dome. this is an honor, to state the obvious, that very few

americans, some to the great americans, never received. each american that has been granted the honor accorded to danny today, they have been given it because they possessed a particular quality that we view as uniquely american, it is thoroughly appropriate -- and is thoroughly appropriate that he is granted because he is in every sense the quintessential american. he possessed in my view every virtue that we like to describe to our country. at the dawn of danny's llife, the country -- life, the country

was emerging from a war that placed america's squarely in the center of leadership for the first time in history. and yet, on the horizon was the greatest economic depression this nation has faced or has faced since. his mother, his mother, the first of regeneration in hawaii, his father emigrating from japan, at a time when there was strong in real prejudice that still existed in america -- a man who came of age as the secondary war burst upon the scene, and that very prejudiced against japanese-americans reached a crescendo. december 7, 1942, as the majority leader has alluded to, on the way to mass or on the way to church with your grandfather,

listening to the radio about the bombing that was taking place in pearl harbor, and as danny told the story, over several times, at least i heard it, he thought it was an orson welles kind of thing. he and his father drove, looking at the horizon, and could see pearl harbor, the bombs bursting. he was then labeled an enemy alien. he was labeled an enemy aliens, as his family was, because of his japanese ancestry. but he fought. he fought for the chance to fight for his country. he had to fight for the chance to fight for his country, not

just to prove that he was a loyal american, but because he knew, he knew what was at stake, because it was the right thing to do. my mom, as i was telling my colleagues before we came out, used to have an expression. she would say, "joey, you are defined by your courage, and you are redeemed by your loyalty." in the 40 years that i have served here, and were a still in the senate serving out that term, i would be the most senior person in the senate, which is a frightening thought to think i am that old, but i never met a man or woman in that period with as much physical and moral

courage as danny inouye. i never met a man with as much loyalty to his country, to his country, and to his friends -- to his country, to his family, into his friends. some new served with a long time remember he was one of the few people to stand on the floor to defend a colleague who was under siege without ever considering the political consequences to him back home. he always just did the right thing. he always had the moral courage to do the right thing. he had a compass that always directed him to his true north and a resolve to do a truly extraordinary things, things

that few women or men ever contemplate being able to consider doing. we all know that on april 21, 1945, and i had the privilege of being with him on the 50th anniversary of d-day. we stopped, and we were with bob dole, as well. he and bob dole were on a mountaintop, and you literally go up as the crow flies. same time, same day, both morally wounded when fighting for their country, just in the ridges above tuscany, but ofause of danny's sense honor, that is the only thing i can ascribe it to when you look at the story, when you look at the record, his loyalty first and foremost was to his platoon, to the men that he had sworn

that he would protect. he would do everything in his power to protect them. he was a man who kept fighting on that ridge even after his arm was severed, prying a grenade from the hand of a severed arm, trying it out of that hand and charging the next machine gun nest, taking it out, and in the process saving his men. the man was awarded the medal of honor for his incredible bravery, but he did not do it because he was brave. he did it because he was loyal. he did it because of his sense of duty. he did it because this was his

country. one man could of been talking about danny win said when will defies fear, when duty throws the gauntlet down, when honor refuses to compromise with death, that is heroism. danny inouye in every sense of the word was a hero. if that is all he would have done for his country, he would have kitchen -- more than 99.9% of all americans contributing to a country, but his fight for his platoon, his fight for his alliance, his fight for his country did not stop. -- his fight for his fellow hawaiians, his fight for his

country did not stop. bob dole has already been mentioned. and phil hart, one of the finest most decent men i have ever had the privilege of knowing. i had a great opportunity being elected year as a young kid. they were still giants, still giants, and they are still giants. they were giants in the senate. imagine, the three of them spent 21 months together for the bulk of that time -- or the bulk of that time in rehabilitation. danny went home and joined a movement for statehood. he returned home to his beloved hawaii with a heart as full as when he had left, which is the amazing thing to me the first

representative, as you all know, was danny teammates. their first representative, as you all know, was beginning -- the amazing thing to me. the first representative, as you all know, was danny inouye -- inouye. no one ever that -- doubted he would do what he said, never once wondered whether or not he would keep whatever commitment he made. that, that is the most valuable capital any man or woman who has

ever served in this place can possess. and he had it from the outset. no one, as i said, could state that danny inouye said something to me that he did not do. that is why he was so successful. no one ever doubt to danny's motives. -- no one ever doubted guinea's motive -- danny's motives. love the people of the hawaii had for him extended across the continent into these calls. people not only listened to,

respected, in light danny, almost all of us who got to know him loved danny. how many of your colleagues can you say that about? i loved this man. i loved this woman. for all that danny had come through, from the sting of prejudice to his physical injuries to the deprivations he suffered and the losses he had, he would have been forgiven if he had an edge to him, if there was a tinge of bitterness or cynicism in his heart. he would have been forgiven for that, but the amazing thing to made was that there was none. there was none. i did not know him his whole life, but i never saw him even

implied, "why me? why me?" -- even imply "why me?" if you forgive, as we used to say in the senate, a point of personal privilege, -- he came to campaign for me when i was a kid running for senate. he came to delaware and spoke on the eve of the election. i will never forget my mom saying, "johhny, unlike that man -- joey, i like that man." i said, and "why?" and she said he had a sixth

sense. we all have five senses, but she said he had six senses, the ability to look in a man or woman's eyes to see them, to sense what they are thinking. he was one of the first, encouraging main -- encouraging me. "your dad did more for me than i ever know. -- then you will ever know.

i did not have to ask. to be my national campaign chair. that was the only time and give you started to question his judgment. [laughter] when i was hospitalized for a long time at walter reed, he was with me and supported me, but he did for me but i guess he would never done for a lot of you, did you never know the good deeds that a man like danny has done except to speak to impressively. what danny did to me, he gave me confidence. before him, nobody believed in

maine. if he believed in me, i must be worth something. i know that sounds odd, but maybe you have had a similar experience, someone you look at who you knew was a better man or woman then you. you knew it, and they had confidence in you. i think the highest compliment a parent can give another man or woman is to look at their daughters or their sons and say, "i hope you grow up to be like that man or that woman." there are a lot of great men or women i have had the pleasure meeting, but all of them had some aspect of their personality like i have and everybody else does that is not particularly admirable.

there was not one single character of danny's that i did not want my sons to possess, not one. there is never been another man but my father knew i have thought about in terms of my sons than danny. maybe that is why when he passed away, the first cause i got word from my sons. they had heard before i did. they knew your dad. they knew your husband. and what mattered most to them is that they knew he knew them. as a matter of fact, it mattered so much to my grandson, hunter, that when he did his senior paper at georgetown university, he went to danny and asked him

if he could do it about the form of 42nd, and would danny help them -- if he could do about the 442nd, and where danny help him -- would danny help them, reaching him, and he heard firsthand about the 442nd -- with danny -- would danny help him, and danny heard firsthand about the 442nd. his belief in the dignity of every human being. danny is known for all of the great things he has done, the physical courage he has shown,

what he has done with veterans, but what drew me to him is a speech he made in 1968 at the democratic convention about civil rights, about human rights. just as my son wrote about danny, future generations will write about daniel inouye. perhaps most importantly is his dedication to country and dedication in public life, engagement in politics, being a member of congress. that can and should be the most honorable profession of all. danny made me proud to be a senator.

>> let us pray. oh, lord, our god, we have been

taught by the master that no greater love exists them one laid down one's life for another -- than one lay down one's life for another. let us never forget this man of quiet, gentle strength, who as a young man literally answered his master's call. for nearly half a century, senator inouye did lay down his life day after day, serving those who looked to him to serve them in their lives, liberties, and pursuit of happiness. all of this thousands of miles from home. may we all be such good and faithful servants. bless us all, but bless

especially his family to mourn the loss of so great a man, senator daniel inouye. amen.

>> if you would, please? please?